Product Description

Ireland's most brilliant storyteller' Sunday Independent

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3418 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01-01
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Tragedy is a word too often used. Nevertheless, in Star of the Sea Joseph O'Connor manages to achieve a real sense of the tragic, as personal dramas of the most distressing kind play themselves out against the background of the Irish potato famine and the almost equal nightmare of the mass emigration that it caused. As passengers die of starvation and disease in steerage, a drama of adultery, inadvertent incest and inherited disease plays itself out in first class. O'Connor raises, and does not attempt definitively to answer, real questions about responsibility and choice.

Bankrupt aristocrat Meredith is emigrating, pursued by the hatred of his tenants and the memory of his mad-hero father. His children's nurse, Mary, has memories of lost love to torment her, as well as of the husband and child who died of hunger. And the ballad singer Mulvey has both his monstrous past and the certain promise that he will be tortured to death by the Liable Men should he not kill Meredith. This is a kaleidoscopic novel, whose events are seen in many idioms, from many points of view--it is a rich novel that knows that there are limits to the sense that can be made of history. --Roz Kaveney

Waterstone's Books Quarterly
'A modern-day Irish masterpiece'

Spectator
`This is a tremendous book; affecting, intelligent, ironic, humane and utterly convincing. It is also extremely funny.'

Customer Reviews

A very well built story
I did really enjoy the reading of this book. A captivating story set back at the time of the Great Famine, one of the darkests periods in Irish history. Very well defined characters and a plot that entangles you until the end. Maybe a few reduntant pages, from time to time, but overall a book I strongly recommend.

Enjoyable froth
Star of the Sea is a good old fashioned tale of adventure and romance on the high seas. Most of the passengers of the eponymous ship are fleeing Ireland, a country brought to its knees by potato blight and famine, for a new life in America, the promised land. In the first class cabins, aristocrats, servants and writers play out their own personal dramas, while down below in steerage, a mysterious club footed passenger roams the decks, contemplating the terrible choice he has before him. The ship's captain, Lockwood, fills in many of the gaps with his matter of fact Captain's Log.

Much of the story is told in flashbacks, as we learn more about teh characters' past lives and the events that led up to their decision to sail to America. Lord Merridith's privileged life is sharply contrasted with the grinding poverty of the Irish peasants. No holds are barred in O'Connor's descriptions of the degradations they suffered in order to survive.

It's a gripping yarn in places, a nicely inconsequential page turner that rips satisfyingly along to its conclusion. Where it fails is, occasionally, in the characters' voices - Merridith's somewhat affected, aristocratic speech is sometimes uneasily grafted upon other characters. The frequent references to "Chas" Dickens are irritating at best and frankly ridiculous at worst. And the ending, while overlong, is frustratingly vague, discursive and inconclusive. But if you're looking for a fun, forgettable way to while away the time, this novel should do the job.

Beautifully woven tale revealing a shocking history
I have to agree with the majority of the previous reviews. This a beautifully woven tale revealing a shocking history; a chapter from British history of which I was not aware and which goes some way to helping understanding the resentments of recent years.
The tale is slow to get started, but soon we get the intricate back stories which form the texture of the novel. I won't give away the ending, but I thought it stretched credibiliy - the only low point.